Bruins coach Claude Julien was not satisfied with the level of his club’s intensity following a 5-2 loss to the Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night at TD Garden.

“I think we could’ve had a better effort,” Julien said. “I think overall, as a team, we’re definitely going to need to be better and get a better effort. The rust was even on both sides, as far as time off. You don’t want to use rust as an excuse.”

The Bruins actually came out strong, applying early pressure on Tampa Bay goalie Dwayne Roloson before the Bruins had a defensive breakdown over an 85-second span that gave Tampa Bay a comfortable three-goal cushion in the first period.

“The effort was something we’re going to need more of,” Julien added. “The other part was the fact that we gave them that 3-0 lead. It was like the Montreal series. I thought we gave them some easy goals and that was more of our doing than it was theirs. Until that point, I thought we had started the game really well and had good momentum but those three goals certainly set us back.”

The Bruins will not be on the ice Sunday but return to practice Monday at TD Garden, with Game 2 scheduled for Tuesday night in Boston before the series shifts to Tampa Bay for Games 3 and 4 Thursday and Saturday.

Tim Thomas dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning during the regular season much in the same way he dominated the rest of the NHL. So, maybe nobody should’ve been shocked when their head coach admitted Friday that the Bruins goalie is in their heads.

Thomas was a perfect 3-0-0 this season against the Lightning, with 1.67 goal against, allowing just five goals in the three games.

“Well, I’m sure we’re no different than any other team or any other coaches,” Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher said Friday. “We do study the other goaltender. I’m sure they studied ours. There’s tendencies and things you want to focus on.

“But I think the players play the game, everything is done in fractions of seconds. It’s quite difficult to all of a sudden change their ways. We do want to focus on a few things. But the reality is, whatever we plan against Tim Thomas, he’s probably going to find a way to counter that. I think you want to watch out and not focus too much on the other team’s goaltender.” Read the rest of this entry »

Goaltending is the one position on the ice where age and experience may mean the most.

Just ask Tim Thomas, Dwayne Roloson and their respective teams as they get ready for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night at TD Garden.

Roloson leads all NHL playoff goalies with a 2.01 goals against in 11 games, posting an 8-3 record.

Thomas is right behind him at 2.03, with an identical 8-3 mark.

Thomas just turned 37 on April 15 while Roloson turns 42 this October.

“I think if age is a factor in any way, it’s actually a benefit to both of us,” Thomas said. “The experiences that we’ve been through just to get to these points in our career, they actually do help. They do help in these playoff-type atmosphere. If anything, I’d say that the age works to our advantage.

“But in this case we’re so close and we’re both in the higher age category for this business that I don’t think it’s really an advantage either way.”

“When it comes to goaltending, I think experience is a big factor,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “You can have a good young goaltender, but if he doesn’t have experience of pressure in playoffs, you see what happens. Those guys are old enough, have enough experience, been through the grinds, the ups and downs, they’ve been able to handle it well.

“Certainly physically they got to battle. As a team you try to make it as easy as possible on those guys, clearing rebounds, not giving second shots, not giving poor-angle shots, try to make their job as easy as you can.”

Lightning coach Guy Boucher is well aware of how dominating Thomas was against Philadelphia and that he’s capable of repeating it again this round.

“Reality is whatever we have planned for Tim Thomas he’s probably going to figure it out,” Boucher said Friday. “It’s in our heads. Make no mistake.”

It should surprise no one that the two have formed a bond over the years. And even more to the point, their careers actually linked going all the way back to when Thomas was thinking of going to U-Mass Lowell, only to choose Vermont since Roloson was already the goalie in Lowell.

Not only do Claude Julien and the team have confidence in Tim Thomas, the Bruins goalie said Friday he believes this Bruins team has already proven in two playoff series wins they have what it take to hoist the Stanley Cup in June.

“I think it was a confidence that grew throughout the year,” Thomas said of the that won the Northeast Division and entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the East. “Till you get to the playoffs, you don’t really know that for sure what you have as a group. I think that the first round against Montreal was a testing ground for us. We started it out right way from some adversity, getting down in the series, 2-0. We started to find out what we were made of.

“Come to find out, we’re made of some pretty stern stuff. We have a lot of the things that it takes to win a championship, hopefully all of them.”

The 37-year-old Thomas will square off against 41-year-old goalie Dwayne Roloson and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night in Game 1. Roloson and Thomas enter the Eastern Conference finals with identical 8-3 playoff marks this spring and nearly identical goals against averages.

Bruins coach Claude Julien has no doubt that his goaltender is capable of picking up where he left off when the Eastern Conference finals begin Saturday night at TD Garden. Thomas enters the series with a 2.03 goals against, just .02 behind Tampa Bay’s Dwayne Roloson for best among all goaltenders in these Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I think Timmy right now is in the zone, like he’s very, very focused,” Julien said following Friday’s practice at TD Garden. “He’s also calm. Watching him today in practice, he’s very confident and that’s what it’s all about when it comes to goaltending. When a guy is feeling good about his game and confident, he can do almost anything, and Tim is there right now.”

Thomas will face three of the eight top scorers in the playoffs in Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steve Downie when the Lightning visit for Game 1 Saturday night. Tampa Bay arrived in Boston Friday for the start of the series, which continues next Tuesday with Game 2 at the Garden.

He was drafted by the Bruins No. 2 overall in last summer NHL entry draft. He was picked by the Bruins as the face of the franchise moving forward into the next decade.

With the latest concussion to Patrice Bergeron, that moment has arrived faster than anyone could have imagined – or hoped.

But we’re about to find out – ready or not – just what kind of special player 19-year-old Tyler Seguin can be for the Bruins.

“I’m trying to keep as sharp as I can both on and off the ice even though I’m not playing,” Seguin said. “You have to work out pretty hard when you’re not in the lineup and do a lot of hard skates and hard workouts so I feel great.

“It’s been a huge learning curve. My defensive zone has gotten a lot better I think. I also believe on a compete level, my battling skills have gotten better and still improving.”

Veteran Mark Recchi, 24 years older than Seguin, doesn’t think the rookie will be overwhelmed in his first playoff action on the Bruins’ third line with Rich Peverley and Michael Ryder, partly because he’s seen the fire of intense playoff hockey in his recent past.

“His competitive level was huge,” Recchi said. “In juniors, I think he was just so darn good that he could kind of get away with skill. He learned how to compete every night and he learned to be a pro. It was great to see he was willing to learn, he was willing to talk to guys, get better, want to get better and when you have that, you’re going to get better. If you think you’re too good, you’re not going to get better, but he improved tremendously over the course of the season in terms of how hard he competed and it was great to see. This is another level, and he’s ready for it. It will be fun.” Read the rest of this entry »

Brad Marchand has shown all season that he is not shy, nor does he lack in confidence.

Both were on display on Thursday at TD Garden as the Bruins had their most intense practice yet as they prepare to shake off the cobwebs from a week off and get ready for Game 1 with the Lightning Saturday night at 8 p.m.

“I think the biggest thing is we’re just keeping the mindset on the game and I think having the excitement of the game coming up and having these days off, guys are going to be hungry to play again. I think that’s big for us right now,” Marchand said.

“Everyone is hungry to go. I don’t think think we’ve been away long enough to get out of the rhythm. We’ve still been practicing very hard. Guys are staying focused and staying ready. I think it’s all mental. We’re staying in good shape. We’re working hard, practicing hard but the biggest thing is when you’re off this long is you have to stay mentally ready, mentally focused and don’t get off track.”

The man most responsible for that approach – according to Marchand – is coach Claude Julien.

“Claude’s been unbelievable,” Marchand said. “He’s such a good mentor. He really knows how to bring players along and teach them the little aspects of the game that make you a good player. He’s great at knowing players and how to read them and how to teach them. He’s been such a great mentor for me this year. I don’t think I’d be the player I am right now if I didn’t have him as a coach.”

That’s why Marchand isn’t losing sleep over how a player like Tyler Seguin will approach Saturday night when he gets his first-ever taste of playoff action. Julien brought Marchand along perfectly, in a 20-20 season. He feels Seguin will have the same result from the same treatment.

“He’s rounded out my game,” Marchand said of Julien. “He brought me in slowly, gave me more minutes as the season went on and let me grow as a player. He guided me in the right direction with agitating and using my offensive skills at the right time and when to be defensive, playing on that [fine] line but not going over it. He’s been great at just rounding out my game.”